cliques in ALFA

[Castano]

I think people are talking about OOC stuff here.

We DMs can't force people to play with you unless we really force them plot wise.

Otherwise just ignore them and form your own group. I will happily DM the Dmless.

[Blindhamsterman]

me me me me pick me!!!

[Castano]

ok Saturdays MS 2PM EST.

We can do some elf stuff.

[CloudDancing]

IRC is great and there is only one outside faction that has their own channel I know of.

In game currently to my knowledge there are three out in the open "faction-like" entities.

1. Aurilites
2. Elves (most are out seeing the world)
3. The Wind Rose (not sure their status)

IC people can shun you for various reasons like IC suspicions you are not what you seem and various racial issues.

IC relationships and factions pre-exisisting the creation of characters will bond people together.

OC you can't expect players that knew your previous characters to give you breaks, gold, armor, and/or help you level. That is covered under our metagaming and power-leveling rules.

I do think people should "bend" a little in regards to RP and extend a hand of friendship in regards to those awkward "pen and paper" moments where a new character is being introduced. Someone has to take an interest in the "new guy" and ask some key questions, even if it the DM showing them off, or finding an "IN" for them to a new adventure.

Sometimes the player can provide the "in" through affiliating through ingame factions and background information approved with the dms for fancier affairs, like being a junior harper agent or a memeber of the thieves guild.

[Veilan]

Life cannot find a reason to sustain it, cannot be a source of decent mutual regard, until each and everyone of us resolves to breathe such qualities into it.

At the very least, people should give it their best effort to be inclusive. Group dynamics have a tendency to bring out the worst in us, and it can be more than off-putting to newbies. Conduciveness to the overall campaign is a major goal here just like it is in PnP. We're not helmites or elves, we're ALFAns, amirite?

[NESchampion]

3. The Wind Rose (not sure their status)

While the Wind Rose itself has been absorbed into Crescent Rose and a few of ours have been offline for weeks, the two of us who do play and the other goody two-shoes on TSM are usually pretty open to having folks come along that we don't know well. Heck just yesterday we had four newer characters join us on a dangerous adventure, and I had a pretty good time getting to know the other characters and explaining a bit about the recent history of the area, power structures, etc.

[Zelknolf]

Given that I'm seeing two people actually saying "Yes. The cliques are so bad; my play is damaged by the cliques." I'm thinkin this--

The distance with Rorax is probably one part IC and one part time zones. Not sure how many it applies to, but my character has certainly avoided a few of his characters with specific IC reasons, and simply failed to find a few more of them before the randomness of dice made them less-than-lively. But my character's quite known for avoiding people who offend her. I'd say something reminiscent of thinkpig-- gotta be careful what you say. Characters have triggers. But IC is IC; it's not OOC unless I get OOC nonsense too. Like to think that I'm quite friendly, OOCly, with more than a couple people whose characters and mine are doomed to not get along (or who I'll probably never find out if they will, thanks to horrifying IC reputations). Add being on Euro time on TSM to that and you end up in a place where not being on good IC terms with a couple people makes a fellow pretty isolated. Not much to be done about that, except trying to get more Euros to join ALFA, or moving to a server with more players in the time zone.

With gollumnator, I get the feeling that it's the bits of communication that get lost in writing. NES and Jayde will back me up on this-- we've been actively trying to make the fellow feel welcome, 'cuz he's a new guy, and we're all happy to bend the RP a bit to get along with someone who's spanking new -- at least until he learns the ropes. Veterans should know better. Or have a plan. Or both. He was in the group that NES refers to... and then kinda wandered off. Seeing a lot of that wandering off, in fact. So eh, might help to hang out ICly and talk? Hard to get along with a group without some interaction.

[Analogkid]

everyone just roll lesbian elves and be done with it

[Kemeras]

What about trans-gender Elves....did you think of them

haha

[Spider Jones]

There are cliques, some may be mean spirited, but you've no right to complain about them.

People will play with who they want to play with, DM who they want to DM, et cetera... You aren't going to convince any of these cliques to play with you by weeping about them on the forums.

Bottom line is you cannot make anyone play with/DM you who doesn't want to.

Note: There are three servers to choose from now, they cannot all be dominated by a single clique that excludes everyone else.

[Mirabai]

There are cliques, some may be mean spirited, but you've no right to complain about them.

People will play with who they want to play with, DM who they want to DM, et cetera... You aren't going to convince any of these cliques to play with you by weeping about them on the forums.

Bottom line is you cannot make anyone play with/DM you who doesn't want to.

Note: There are three servers to choose from now, they cannot all be dominated by a single clique that excludes everyone else.

More sense-making! That's twice in one week! WTF is going on around here?!?

[Blindhamsterman]

More sense-making! That's twice in one week! WTF is going on around here?!?

especially as it's come from Zicada (crazy person!) and now Spider (Even more crazy person)

[t-ice]

People will play with who they want to play with, DM who they want to DM, et cetera... You aren't going to convince any of these cliques to play with you by weeping about them on the forums.

Bottom line is you cannot make anyone play with/DM you who doesn't want to.

"Freedom to choose your friends" is a poor excuse for bullying new members. And bullying new members is surely detrimental to the community as a whole. Simple as that.

[rorax]

People will play with who they want to play with, DM who they want to DM, et cetera... You aren't going to convince any of these cliques to play with you by weeping about them on the forums.

Bottom line is you cannot make anyone play with/DM you who doesn't want to.

"Freedom to choose your friends" is a poor excuse for bullying new members, and surely detrimental to the community as a whole. If people aren't mature enough to realize this by themselves, then the only way to better the community is for the people in charge of group dynamics, in this case that seems to fall to the DMs, to single such behavior out and meet it in kind by isolating the bully (or the clique of them).

Again , wisely spoken t-ice.

[Swift]

While I agree with t-ice, it is worth noting the things that led to this latest discussion was nothing of the sort. I do not want people to suddenly think that is why we are discussing the topic again, as it simply isn't.

That is all.